Part 5
“While the sons of Israel camped at Gilgal, they observed the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month on the desert plains of Jericho.
On the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. And the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten some of the produce of the land, so that the sons of Israel no longer had manna, …”
The God of Israel, YHVH, came to be a reality in the eyes of the Hebrews in slavery when Moses returned from his forty years in Midian, far east from Egypt, and showed, initially the elders of the people (Ex. 4:29) the signs the LORD had commanded him to demonstrate (Ex. 3:16-4:9), and then to the people the outpouring judgments against the Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Nevertheless, while it was that YHVH’s power was being so monstrously displayed, the Hebrews remained again and again disillusioned, for they were still in slavery. The people of Egypt were growing in fear of Israel’s God, but Pharaoh’s heart was increasingly hardened with each judgment’s subsiding.
But Hope deferred became Hope Realized for God’s people with their sacrifice of a lamb – with the blood of the lamb being applied onto the framing of the door to each man’s house, along with their eating of the entire Passover observance. We know from Psalm 105:37b that the Hebrews were healed, of every physical malady, the night they ate the Passover, their last night in Egypt. It would come to be known in the New Testament for the church as “The LORD’s supper” (I Cor. 11:20) {Here is a nugget, Beloved: I Corinthians 11 is before 1 Corinthians 12 … The teaching of the LORD’s supper is just before the revelation-teaching of the gifts of the Holy Spirit … Selah … Remember what has been written earlier in this “Nuggets” series concerning the unveiled ark of the Covenant with the open testimony of the blood of the Lamb upon the Mercy Seat? That blood, Beloved, is the testimony of Passover … And what follows? – See Joshua 3:5-6}.
God, who was making known His name, YHVH, was bringing about a revelation of that name, yet in a mystery then, in all that Passover was coming to be for the Hebrews in setting them free from bondage to slavery, in giving them “Liberty/Salvation”. With stumbled upon pun intended, Passover for God’s people was the nail in the coffin to their enslaver through the sacrifice of blood believed and thus presented (on the door posts) and (the Passover) accordingly consumed. I will not go into detail here, but the first “LORD’s table” to be seen in scripture, which is tied directly with the defeat of an enemy and the Liberation of enslaved, is seen in Genesis 14; and even there, the direct link to Jesus and His sacrifice are made evident in the revelation of that in Hebrews 5 and 7. There is likewise a prophetic link of Passover’s sacrifice to possessing promised inheritance seen in Genesis 22.
It was the LORD their God’s intent for the children of Israel to meet with Him at Sinai, even as He had met the first time with Moses, to come to that mountain to worship Him (Ex. 3:12), and then to move on and take possession of Canaan, (which He had sworn to Abraham that He would give to His seed). But this delivered generation, save two men, forgot the power of that Passover, in what it utterly accomplished, to alas bring about, as a reality, ‘Hope’ – of Liberty, of salvation – for this life.
After forty years of manna in the desert wilderness, those two men who had not let the power of YHVH’s grace-truth of that night back in Egypt slip out of their memory are now the only remaining two “men of war” from the now previous freed-from-Egyptian-slavery generation to cross the Jordan before the ark of the Covenant. Joshua and Caleb, presently beyond eighty years of age, yet very much not a day older than when they ate the Passover lamb back in Egypt (see Josh. 14:6ff ), are now standing inside Divinely promised inheritance. The ark of the Covenant is in their midst. They have just circumcised the young generation whom they had just led here out of the desert, these forty plus years younger seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, who themselves also now within their Divinely promised inheritance, who were either children in Egypt or born in the desert during the past years of their parent’s wandering, are now are on the verge of actually taking possession of their share in the inheritance. It is the anniversary and consequently also the festival celebration night which Caleb and Joshua would have remembered well as younger adults when they themselves were about to finally be freed from slavery.
In Joshua 1:8, the LORD, coming to speak personally to Joshua, while he had his “Bible” open – (“This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.” The emphasis on “This” is indeed there in the Hebrew text.) – Joshua is very much accordingly attuned to the timetable, both chronos and kairos (chronological and season, that is, the strategic timing of the LORD within the timetable/season of the year) of the LORD for his people. You notice from the end of chapter 2, the two spies who had gone into Jericho, having just returned to give report, Joshua immediately rose early the next morning, (chapter 3:1), and has the people to move out from Shittim to the very edge of the Jordan river, readying them to cross within three days. The calendar per what the LORD had set for them back in Egypt (Ex. 13:3-10) is so obviously upon the forefront of Joshua’s thinking, yet it is far more to him than just merely keeping a calendar event. Joshua remembers what Passover meant for them back in Egypt … and it is now about to be Passover … just prior to the beginning of becoming possessors of their inheritance, that is, just before beginning the war to facing head on and taking down the giants of the land – in God’s words to Joshua in chapter 1:4, “all the land of the Hittites” – all the territory, Beloved, where fears, terrors, have ruled. The Hebrews had not just been promised by YHVH a salvation out of slavery. Joshua’s name was YHVH’s destiny for God’s people. YHVH-shua clearly denoted LIBERTY, with ample room, as very much a foundational definition to salvation … and the desert wilderness of the last forty years was by no means a Divine possession of LIBERTY. God’s promise to Abraham and verbally to this seed of Abraham was deliverance out of and then a possession gained. The key to bringing about the totality of YHVH’s promise, fruition, hope realized, was linked to how it was first begun to be realized … Passover … The LORD’s table.
On the third day of this nation’s short encampment at the river’s edge, the priests, at Joshua’s command, take up the ark of the covenant, step into the waters of the Jordan, the Jordan then heaps up to let the people cross over on dry ground, and they make their way beyond the Jordan to a place they would name Gilgal, where the reproach of Egypt is rolled away from off of them at the circumcision of the next generation … and then they celebrate Passover! What will take place immediately afterwards to Joshua personally, I believe, is in accordance with how he has led the people, in swiftness, through to this kairos/chronos moment of Passover. It is so key, and will link, as we will see in the days ahead, to a strategic battle of the past and what would afterwards transpire for this man’s first forefather, Abraham, back in Genesis 14, resonating through to and even after Joshua’s day.
I had already begun the writing another Kairos when, in the wee hours of the morning, just prior to writing this letter, my spirit and my mind were a buzz with this Passover, and I jumped out of bed to write what the LORD has put on my heart. There is obviously so much that can be written as to Passover, but one element of it is shouting a realm of grace beyond what we have stepped into, though some will say, “I already know about this aspect”. This Passover in Joshua is going to transform this generation from children of ex-slaves who have done nothing but wander in the desert for forty years to now warriors conquering one giant of fear after another, beginning with the one of the most fortified cities in the land of Canaan. As surely as the very first Passover back in Egypt healed everyone, even the oldest and most feeble from the decades (of each individual) of increasing physical brutality in their slavery to wholeness able to walk literally miles and miles and miles without frailty, so now, the whatever transformation was going to wrought a change in this new generation to become active possessors of Divinely promised inheritance. The testimony of the blood on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant was going to become, for Joshua and for the people he is leading – each and every single individual, not a faceless, nameless crowd of people – a personal testimony of exactly what the Blood on the Mercy Seat has purchased, by it’s sacrifice, to grant/to grace each one of the whole their inheritance.
In the 2nd of this Nuggets series, I wrote that we need to see the ark of the Covenant unveiled, not veiled as this generation in the book of Joshua saw it. It is in the Passover, Beloved, from where we have obtained the right, by Holy God, by our heavenly Father, to look, uncondemned, at an uncovered Ark of the Covenant.
“Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place (Holy of Holies) by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh …”
- “So His appearance was marred more than any man, And His form more than the sons of men. … The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.”
Isaiah 52:14b, 53:5b (NASB)
The 3rd in this Nugget series spoke of the veil, the darkness in the sky above and the real separation between the real Holy of Holies of God and us, and its consequential tearing at the final breath of Jesus on the cross (ref. Mat. 27:50-51; Mk 15:37-38; Lk. 23:44-46). For those of you who saw Mel Gibson’s movie, “The Passion of the Christ”, the most difficult part to watch was the tearing apart of Jesus’ flesh during the entire scourging scene. I desperately tried to keep looking, but too often had to turn away my head. Yet I knew what was portrayed on that movie screen still did not capture the extent of Jesus’ body being torn apart. In Psalm 22, David prophesying of the suffering of that fulfillment Passover sacrifice, in verse 17, says, “I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me.”
What satan did not realize was that when those Roman whips were coming down to tear apart the flesh of the Son of Man, he was using heathen nations to tear apart … the real veil … The way into the real Holy of Holies was being ripped into, because real holiness, God’s purist, spotless, Lamb in the History of this creation, was being sacrificed to demonstrate God’s purist spotless judicial righteousness … on our behalf … in order to make access, by sinful man, into the Holy of Holies accessible judicially, righteously … WITHOUT THE THREAT OF CONDEMNATION, OF WRATH, OF DEATH!
BUT, do you know what He was making available almost, I dare say, first? As a grace gift to us? Salvation into eternal life is indeed the goal, no question asked.
However, YHVH was offering to people something as a grace gift that actually draws people into salvation … and it is in this tearing apart of the real veil.
I submit to you, Beloved Saint, that the cross, the nails, are for our sin … … but His stripes … … were for our healing … … our physical healing, as what took place in Exodus 13, as what Isaiah 53 clearly speaks as the chapter of the suffering of the Lamb, and so is confirmed by the gospel of Matthew 8:16-17.
- “And when evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed ALL who were ill in order that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, “He Himself took our infirmities, and carried away our diseases.” ”
When we take the LORD’s table, communion, we first take the bread before we take the wine. The LORD our God is graciously giving us healing before we are remembering with the cup that we have forgiveness of our sins through the blood. It was healing that Jesus gave away en masse to draw the nations into living relationship with Holy God, His Father.
The New Covenant in the Passover of our LORD Jesus is our circumcision, Beloved, (Col. 2:11), our rolled away reproach of our life in sin, whether BC or after having believed into Him. But the price Jesus paid before the cross in the tearing apart of the veil of His flesh to give us access, with Liberty and Salvation, is an access without condemnation for taking freely healing for every part of our body in this life. Salvation and Liberty is for the whole man of us, Beloved, body, soul, and Spirit; mind, emotions, and will. Our inheritance is not alone for when after this flesh of ours gives up the ghost, but is indeed for this life. It is a gift, also, totally and completely unearned on our part. It is not a matter of worthiness. Grace is unmerited favor cheerfully given by a God of intense, exceeding love. Our entire inheritance in Christ for this life is according to the wealth of His grace.
.(EWe have short changed ourselves from receiving, from taking what is freely being offered by our heavenly Father, because of looking at ourselves and basing ourselves off of our performance as saints, using, not His grace as that basis, but our works, and hence, the Law. The only two people in the life of Jesus in the gospels He ever told had “great” faith were non-Jews – The Roman Centurion and the Syrophoenician woman – what they had in common thus as non-Jews, was that they did not have woven into the fabric of who they were the Law, and thus their performance, their deeds as “good enough” or “not good enough”. They only had eyes for Jesus and His willingness to heal whomever came to Him.
The veil has been torn completely apart. Take advantage of it, Beloved. I’m telling you, some of you have been so afraid to enter or to enter often and just stay there, for fear of God pointing out where you’re missing it. He has sworn by His Holy Spirit dwelling in you that He will not recall your sins or your lawless deeds again to His remembrance, to your accounting (Romans 4:6-8; Jer. 31:33-34; Heb. 8:8-12; Heb. 10:15, 17-18). Take advantage of the ripped veil, Beloved. The more you keep coming into the Holy of Holies, the more you will witness what the two cherubim keep witnessing … the finished work of the cross because of the eternal forgiving eternal cleansing eternal grace speaking blood upon the Mercy Seat. Father God will increasingly become to you, Abba Father, to your heart, and He will become your best Friend. You will only look in the mirror down the road to see that all this time in the Holy of Holies in His presence He has been transforming, from glory to glory into the image of His Beloved Son. You will come to realize, then, that habits of sin no longer are alive in you …
And you will begin, like Abraham in Genesis 15:3, our father of faith, to start asking your heavenly Father about really obtaining your inheritance, all that Jesus purchased with His sacrifice.
One more item, as it pertains to Passover.
- “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup You proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”
I Corinthians 11:26 (NASB)
Take the LORD’s table often. It is not condemnation. It is not a recollection again of when you blew it. It is a proclamation over and over of the Jesus’ death – and thus, of your healing, of your possession of forgiveness, of your release from the law of sin and of death in your flesh, of your grace access into the Holy of Holies … … of the stripping of the satan, the devil’s defeat (Col. 2:14-15).
You will find, Beloved, with often taken Passover, that your Joshua is leading you to possess promises, inheritances possessed formerly by giants of fears.
- “Thou dost prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies”
Psalm 23:5a (NASB)
You are so loved, Beloved.
Mark Dingemans
kairos – (Kahee-ros’) – Strong’s concordance defines this word: “an occasion, I.e. set or proper time.” The Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible (NASB) defines this word; “season, time, but not merely as a succession of moments, which is chronos,” [from which we derive the English word ‘chronology’]. “Kairos, however, implies not the convenience of the season, but the necessity of the task at hand, whether the time provides a good, convenient opportunity or not.” This must be understood. Strategic times of the Lord do not necessarily imply good or convenient times. We are in Kairos times. Maybe not good or convenient times, but definitely strategic, opportune times because of the season we are in. We must have “ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches,” (Rev. 2:29), so as to respond correctly to the Kairos time.
* Some Scripture for this letter is taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, (c) 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Other references translated from Grk. Txt as presented in T. Newberry’s Englishman’s Greek New Testament, Zondervan Publishing – 1982- originally published in London, Eng. 1877